29
Apr/10

TRIBECA FILM: ONDINE

29
Apr/10

Fisherman Colin Farrell shares his strange story with town priest Stephen Rea in ONDINE (photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

ONDINE (Neil Jordan, 2010)
Thursday, April 29, Chelsea Clearview Cinemas, 260 West 23rd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves., 3:00
Saturday, May 1, Chelsea Clearview Cinemas, 4:00
www.tribecafilm.com
www.magpictures.com

After hard-luck fisherman Syracuse (a decidedly unglamorous Colin Farrell) raises his net to find out he has caught a woman (Alicja Bachleda) from the bottom of the sea, his life takes a dramatic shift in Neil Jordan’s wonderful fairy tale, ONDINE. Syracuse, also known disaffectionately as Circus for his checkered past, resuscitates the beautiful woman, who appears to have lost her memory and later chooses the name Ondine, which means “little wave.” Syracuse brings Ondine fishing with him, and when she sings her strange, haunting song, he catches more lobster and salmon than he ever has before. But his wheelchair-bound daughter, Annie (Alison Barry), who needs a new kidney, thinks than Ondine might be more than just good luck; she believes that Ondine is a selkie, a supposedly mythological sea creature who can live on land for seven years before having to return to her watery home. But when a mysterious stranger suddenly shows up in town, everyone is forced to reevaluate their changing lives. Gorgeously shot by master cinematographer Christopher Doyle (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE) in the coastal village of Castletownbere and along Poulin Harbor, ONDINE is a compelling story that easily could have turned into treacly melodrama but manages to keep surprising up to the very end. Farrell is excellent as the uneducated, simple, but lovable Syracuse who, when not fishing or taking his daughter to her weekly dialysis treatment, shares his tale with the town priest (Stephen Rea) in some very funny scenes. Jordan (MONA LISA, THE CRYING GAME), who has a house in Castletownbere, has made a fairy tale audiences can really believe in with ONDINE, which features a lush soundtrack by Sigur Rós’s Kjartan Sveinsson that accompanies the lush locations.

For a slideshow of the film’s U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 28 with Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, and Neil Jordan, please visit here.